New enterprise zone aims to attract new business to McLean, Ford counties

Posted on October 13, 2016

(Photo courtesy Facebook/bnbiz)

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Local economic developers hope a new enterprise zone will spur business growth.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has approved an application for the program to cover a 14-square mile area including Bloomington Normal, McLean County, Gibson City and Ford County after the previous enterprise zone expired last year.

“That enterprise zone is probably the single best tool we have in our tool box as far as incentive to bring a business into this community, said Mike O’Grady, Vice President of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council.

He told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the state rejected the initial application last year but the second application has far more detailed.

“It was a binder 2 1/2 inches thick about our community and what it has done in the past,” O’Grady noted. “It also includes letters from businesses in the community, who said ‘If we have this enterprise zone and my company continues to grow, I will use it.’ ”

The zone was first established in 1984 to help land the Mitubishi Motors plant which closed earlier this year. There are 12 such zones in the state that offer incentives such as sales tax exemptions for building materials.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

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